Pages

Sunday, August 14, 2016

August 14, 2016

There were some days this week that Sue felt so tired at the end of the shift that she didn’t think she could walk the 100 feet from the temple to our apartment. Tuesday and Wednesday were very busy days with many missionaries receiving their own ordinances. We also had a stake here from Ivory Coast. A new 7 AM session was added every day and will continue indefinitely to accommodate all the patrons.

Monday at Home Evening for the senior missionaries we welcomed Elder and Sr. Nash, the new counselor in the area presidency, and the Jones from Calgary, who are serving in the Accra Mission. We also said farewell to the Ridges, who are concluding their 4th mission and were assigned to the Pathway program. For the activity we played temple quiz trivia, and were surprised to win since we didn’t know how many temples were in Mexico (11), the order of the five temples built in Australia, or the smallest temple (Colonia Juarez, Mexico). We didn’t even know the 99th temple, dedicated in 1999, which is just off Highway 99 (that would be Fresno, CA). You get the gist…

We did catch a bit of the Olympics on the big screen in the temple president’s apartment - men’s gymnastics and dressage. Tom decided he is in training for the 2020 Senior

Olympics. He wants to compete in power napping (has that sport been approved yet?).

Today we were invited to help at the MTC. Every third Sunday the couple in charge of Family History travels there to help the missionaries enter information and request ordinances for their own family members who are deceased. It is surprising to us how many are orphans, or have had one parent die and have been raised by relatives. Many are also the only members in their family. We had access to ten laptops and were very busy for about 90 minutes as they clustered around to set up their own accounts, enter their information, and reserve the ordinances. About 25 French-speaking elders and sisters were there and Tom was the only senior missionary who spoke French and knew enough to help them. They will bring these names to the temple on Tuesday and Wednesday. Several will be sealed to deceased parents, which is always a sweet experience to witness.

Elder Bednar is in West Africa this weekend, visiting Nigeria, speaking to the Youth, at the MTC, to all missionaries in the area, and also to Young Singles. Some meetings will be broadcast within the Area. We are not sure we will hear him speak due to our work schedule, but everyone is excited that he is here. It sounds like an exhausting schedule, but sweet is the work...